BSP to complete investigation on GCash glitch by mid-December

Mactan, Cebu — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Wednesday said it is set to complete by mid-December its investigation into the system error that hit several users of GCash who reported unauthorized deductions on their account balances.

According to BSP deputy governor Mamerto Tangonan, he requested for 15 more working days to ensure that a thorough investigation is conducted into the root cause of the error, and that measures are taken to prevent a repeat.

“Hopefully not later than that. Kasi (because) as soon as we get convincing evidence then we can already discuss it... inform the public,” he said on the sidelines of the BSP-IMF Systemic Risk Dialogue.

“We want to be thorough in this because we want to assure the public that it’s safe and that we are keeping it that way, to instill that trust when we have to tell the public you know what happened, what we are going to to do about it, and how do they protect themselves from it if it happens,” he said.

The central bank last week said it will look deeper into the matter, as it said it is closely coordinating with GCash operator G-XChange Inc. (GXI) to ensure a prompt resolution on the matter.

The initial report of GXI to the BSP attributed the incident to a system error, as the firm assured that all accounts of GCash users remain secure. It also said it has completed the necessary wallet adjustments.

“We will not dispense with any effort at getting at the root cause of this, because it’s very important. You know, payments is built on trust so if you don’t trust it, no one will use it,” Tangonan said.

Asked about the extent of the system error and how many users were affected, BSP official said he did not have the figure top of mind, but the initial report indicated that it would be a small percentage of total users.

“The initial figure was, siyempre (of course) initial, as you uncover there may be much more, but initially if you compare it to the number of transactions that we have or the number of customers that digital payments has, this is a very very small number,” he said.

Tangonan said that in 2023, total fraudulent transfers were 0.002% of total transactions.

“Normally these things, we discuss it with the highest level of their management. If there are gaps, we want this plugged so they have to… actions have to be taken,” he said.

GCash is registered with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) as a non-bank financial institution electronic money issuer (EMI-NBMF). It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mynt (Globe Fintech Innovations Inc.), which is in turn a partnership of Globe Telecom Inc., the Ayala Group, and Ant Financial.

Globe Telecom president and chief executive officer Ernest Cu last week clarified that there were no unauthorized fund losses, accounts were restored within 24 hours, and that corrections were made to ensure that a repeat of the incident does not happen.—AOL, GMA Integrated News